In wireless communications networks, wireless access regions are divided into geographic areas served by the same wireless access node.
These regions are referred to as cells. In many cases, especially with the advent of different sizes of cells, the radio coverage areas served by different wireless access nodes overlap. For example, a macrocell may share the same radio coverage area with micro, pico, and femto cells. This overlap is illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the radio coverage areas of macrocell 100, microcell 102, picocell 104, and femtocell 106 overlap.
One problem with cells with overlapping radio coverage areas is inter-cell interference. Inter-cell interference occurs when communications between user equipment and a wireless access node in one cell interferes with communications between user equipment and/or wireless access node in another cell. Such interference may occur when user equipment and/or wireless access nodes in overlapping cells use the same frequency and timeslot for transmission.
In light of the increased possibility of inter-cell interference, procedures have been proposed for mitigating inter-cell interference. For example, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed procedures referred to as inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) and enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC) for wireless access nodes to communicate with each other to reduce inter-cell interference. Before such procedures can be implemented in live networks, it is desirable to test the implementation of these techniques by wireless access network nodes.
Systems that simulate various interference scenarios and test the response a wireless access node are needed. Rather than passively monitoring eICIC and ICIC functionality, it is desirable to trigger eICIC and ICIC functionality and monitor responses of wireless access nodes.
Accordingly, there exists a need for methods, systems, and computer readable media for testing inter-cell interference coordination capabilities of wireless access nodes.